City of Guelph

Update #6 on Hydro One Tree Removal (Clear Cutting) Area in #Guelph

I had a couple of emails today from residents asking me about what’s being done as the removal of the trees are occurring. The same requests went into councillors and city staff. I received this response and wanted to post it here so you can see it.

Thanks,

Cam

EMAIL:

Thank you for passing on the comment and for the opportunity to respond.Regarding use of herbicide, Hydro One, at the time of the October 22 community meeting, agreed not to use herbicide unless absolutely necessary due to concerns of the adjacent owners. At our site visit to the corridor (on November 3 I believe) which was attended by Hydro One, the City and community representatives, including landscape architect Lisa McTaggart, it was agreed that the use of herbicides would be beneficial in a few locations on the corridor to allow us to leave some vegetation while dealing with the incompatible vegetation growing in the same area.
Yesterday, Neil pointed out to (name removed for privacy) while on site that Hydro One’s mechanical crews were unable to remove certain stumps adjacent to the fence along the properties on Pacific Place. He asked for permission to apply Garlon RTU to these stumps to prevent the resurgence of vegetation and she had no objection.

Regarding trees along the property line, we are saving what we can. A few mature trees that we had hoped to save, upon closer examination were found to be diseased or have damaged trunks, and therefore a decision was made to remove them.

One Comment on “Update #6 on Hydro One Tree Removal (Clear Cutting) Area in #Guelph”

This seems fairly convenient. They asked for permission to use pesticides. Not sure who approved of this? I know I would never approve of this, especially with 2 young kids. Yet here they are today, a gentleman in his HASMAT suit with a mask on spraying pesticides! Very nice touch.

In terms of saving any trees, what a complete and utter joke that is. I cannot see 1 tree they have left standing. In fact, out 50 foot high maple tree was perfectly fine. I guess the fact that it grew leaves each year must have meant it was diseased? What pisses me off the most is that Hydro One never even had the decency to knock on our door and say they tried to save it but couldn’t.

We were naive enough to believe that Hydro One and the city would actually help. We will try and get a major newspaper to cover this story so this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

Major home run Cam. Well done! The Jays could have used you in game 6 of the ALCS this year.